I think he has ADD

[bab-ush-niik]

Actually, I am starting to consider the possibility that Puppy has some kind of mental problem. Any of these by themselves would be just normal weirdness, but this is a little much. This is beyond the normal "crazies" that my previous cats would get late at night. Can cats have ADD? What mental diseases can they have?

Symptoms:
* high frequency of crazies (multiple times in a night), even though we play with him about 4 hours every evening, high intensity playtime. That's in addition to general attention he gets when we're home.
* Meows at random times, and not when there are people in the room. He meows at walls.
* Purrs at random times. He will purr when we pet him, but also just randomly.
* Cuddles with shoes and chairs, but not people.
* Gets upset if we don't pat his head when he wakes up. Not a full pet, he just seems to want to be acknowledged that he's alive.
* Acts like he has ADD. When we play with him, we have to keep drawing his attention back to what we were doing.
* Attempts to jump onto invisible ledges. Really. He keeps going onto the desk, looking into the corner as though he sees a ledge, and then preparing to jump. He a few times stood up on his hind legs and seemed confused when there wasn't a ledge there. He also jumps at invisible ledges when he's on the windowsill. In that case, he thinks the curtains are hiding the "ledge", so he jumps, misses (duh), and crashes to the floor. Then tries again...

 

[trouts mom]

I think you just have a kitty with a unique personality

 

[curlyq629]

How old is your kitty? That might explain some of it...

Lilly does many of those things, too. I just love her for the many "crazy" things she does that make me laugh. She just ran in the room, jumped up at some imaginary thing on the wall (we call it her "freestyle walking") and tore back out down the hall... who knows!?! Silly kitty!

 

[buzbyjlc10]

Oliver does a lot of the things you describe as well... he'll stare at what appears to be absolutely nothing on the floor or a wall forever - it must be some minute bug or just a carpet fiber that's recently been stepped on and popping back up... he also has random crazies no matter how much he's played with, frequently curls up with chair legs, baseboards, stuffed animals (he does curl up with me also though), meows and purrs randomly (he'll also purr when I know for a fact he's angry or stressed about something too, so purring doesnt always mean happy), and as far as attention span, the tiniest, ittiest, bittiest movement, sound or vibration can pull Oliver's attention from whatever he's doing... if your kitty is young, these things may be more frequent or pronounced, but I think he's just being a kitty and that most do these things or similar things just to different extents... if you REALLY believe there may be something wrong with your kitty, your vet can decide whether a neurological test should be conducted...

 

[larke]

I'm just wondering about your having called him Puppy - if you unconsciously wanted a dog, and he's picking up on 'kitty' not being good enough, he could be feeling a little weird.

 

[bab-ush-niik]

He's just over a year, so I suppose that's part of it. My girls were always just much more understandable. If they are upset, I know exactly what the problem is. Heck, they'll lead humans right to the problem if they decide we're to dumb to figure it out on our own. If they're jumping at a wall, it was always because there was a fly. With Puppy, who knows. He just seems to do random stuff. Maybe I just forgot what the girls were like when they were young...It's distressing though. Every time he meows or goes nuts, we come rushing to see what the problem is, and we can't figure it out. I suppose we'll wait it out for a year and see if he chills. And more trips outdoors, he really likes those.

I'm just wondering about your having called him Puppy - if you unconsciously wanted a dog, and he's picking up on 'kitty' not being good enough, he could be feeling a little weird.

No, we wanted a cat.

We just have a strange sense of humor. Turned out to be a good name for him. He's huge, large paws (polydactyl), is not graceful (more of a ground cat), and greets us at the door. Oh, and he slobbers up his toys, listens to the word "NO", "wrestles" with us, and chews shoes and leather belts. I've never seen a cat slobber a toy before, but he's very good at it. I've also never seen a cat who likes playing while on his back.

He has more feline nicknames. "Snow Lepoard", "Puppy-Kitty", "ADD Cat", and "The Great Pupino".

 

[silvermoonmyst]

awwww hes just a silly kitty... course maybe he sees things you dont??

Maybe there are spiders or flies on the walls or something like that ( not saying you have buggs or anything) or maybe he imagines things

Hes special thats all.

 

[punkinhead]

I think all cats have what we would call "ADD," to some degree. Your cat will probably settle down in a couple of years. Most of what you described are normal cat behaviors (except for jumping on imaginary ledges--that sounds really strange). My youngest cat goes bonkers almost every night, even though he stays awake most of the day. He also likes to "wrestle" and play rough. And all three of my cats cuddle with shoes (one of them also cuddles with tennis balls).

 

[bab-ush-niik]

Originally Posted by Punkinhead

Most of what you described are normal cat behaviors (except for jumping on imaginary ledges--that sounds really strange).

Yeah, that's the part that really got us concerned. If it was just the other stuff, I'd put it off as him being an overactive young cat. But the imaginary ledges thing is really weird. He'll spend 15 minutes sittting on the desk looking into the corner, preparing to leap, then stopping when he looks back up again. He'll meow, look around in confusion as though he's trying to find something, then he'll refocus back up in the corner again and repeat the whole thing. Sometimes he'll get up, walk to the other end of the desk, and try the other corner.

I have had cats try to jump on things that were impossible to stay on (Princess still believes that she can walk across hangers in the closet), but there's nothing up there! There's not even any pictures on the walls in that room...

 

[lunasmom]

Whitey is like that. He's a year and is Super hyper active. We have the opposite though, he keeps wanting to play! I don't think he got enough of it his first year

when Luna was a kitten she would almost always attack a mouse toy, play with it for 30 seconds...walk away, get a drink of water or some food, then randomly pounce back on the mouse toy.

(ps - we have your type of sense of humor, "Whitey" is a black cat).